Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good morning everyone! Ok even though I haven't decided where I'm going to put my AP system (or how big it will be), I know I want to start with tomatoes & maybe veggies with similar needs. (The fact that I can't get decent tomatoes on this island is what got me interested in AP!!) Where can I find detailed info on growing tomatoes?

Thanks!
Felix

Hello and welcome, Felix!

There's a lot of information on the internet on growing tomatoes, I guess it just depends on how much time and space you are willing to spend on it.

There's basically two ways to grow tomatoes; as a bush or 'climbing'.
If you grow them as a bush, you prune less, but I think you get less tomatoes per plant. Letting the tomatoes climb requires more pruning so that you have a single vine. Also, I think there are special 'indeterminate' tomatoes that don't require pruning so they have a single vine. Sometimes the largest leaves are removed so you get more/better/bigger tomatoes.

I think I'd like to go with climbing, since I have more vertical space!

If I were to grow them in those poofed clay balls, how often should I run the pump?

Thanks!
Felix

Ah, so you're going flood and drain, with a growbed filled with clay balls?

Well, there seem to be many different cycle times that seem to work. Somebody on here had a cycle of an hour; 10 minutes flood and 50 minutes drain, but I've also read about 2/4 minute cycle working. I think any cycle time between those would work just fine.

If you want to grow your tomatoes vertically, I think you'll just have to prune the plants so you're left with one vine per plant, and just lead that up a wire or a mesh or something.

Well I guess... Unless there's a more effective way! Again, I have no idea what I'm getting into!!!


Thanks!

my cycle time varies, but at the start it was around 1minute fill / 30 seconds drain.

I don't think it really matters

You're going to need a growbed with media, for instance the traditional gravel, or the more expensive clay balls.

Continous flow might create anaerobic spots where the roots rot (and also the plant might get dependant on water so if somehow your pump fails you have very little time to fix it before your plants die), but I think if you have good 'irrigation' near the plants it could work.

Alternatively (and possibly better), you could do flood and drain, using a timer, or a pump that's constantly on and an autosyphon or a flout.

Vegetables like basil and lettuce can be grown easily in continous flow or NFT systems, but I think the best way to grow tomatoes in AP is flood and drain.

Ok so the clay balls are more expensive. Lets stay with gravel! I'm going low low budget on this. Every time I start a new hobby, I run & buy all the cool techno things I see to then realize I didn't need them!!! I'm going basic here.

About the autosiphon, I thought about it since I've been planning on building a CSD Carlson Surge Device or a Borneman Surge device for my saltwater tank, but I'm thinking there's a good chance it may clog in an AP system... wouldn't it? I'd probably go with a timer.

So, no matter what system I build, can I put the seeds directly into the system to prevent transplant shock or do I need to germinate them somewhere else?

Thanks
Felix

you can direct seed or transplant seedlings, whichever is easiest for you. Some people have success with direct seeding, others don't (we did)

Do you germinate in an oasis cube or something of the sort?

no, just throw them in the gravel. you may need to hand water them for a couple of days to ensure germination. after that just let them go

THe direct seeded plants have done better in our school systems than transplanted seedlings... in fact toms grown from guttings are doing better than seedlings that have been put into one of our systems at school.

Should I put them in full sun or partial?

what are the temps like there? In summer here it gets up to 37oC, and the sun is roasting. One of our growbeds was originally in full sun, but all the seedlings fried before they could get anywhere. We put shadecloth up over the bed and everything took off.
The toms here are under shadecloth as well and doing excessively well

I did the conversion & our temps are more or less the same. One time I clocked 120F in my front porch. Today the water in my SW aquarium was 97.6F (36.4C)